LearningAbout and From
Islamic Chemistry:

The Western
interest in, and knowledge of, Muslim chemistry was intensified
by the 12th century translations from Arabic into
Latincarried
out in Toledo. Amongst the translators was
Robert of Chester who translatedLiber de compositione alchemise, whilst Hugh of
Santalla made the earliest Latin translation of lawh
azzabarjad (The Emerald Table). Alfred of Sareshel
translated the part of Ibn Sina's Kitab al-Shifa (The Book
of Healing) that deals with chemistry.[1]
It is, however, as usual, the Italian, Gerard of Cremona, who
made the more valuable translations, such as of Al-Razi's De aluminibus et salibus,
whose Arabic original is preserved.[2]
The many versions of this work had a decisive influence on
chemical developments in the West, more generally on mineralogy.[3]
A later translation was ofKitab
al arais wa atayib al-nafais
by al-Hasib, a treatise on precious metals and perfumes written
in 1301. The most interesting chapter is the final one on the
knowledge of the art of mosaics, including materials to employ,
solutions to prepare, the manipulations used for the
manufacturing of the product, all precise and accurately listed.[4]Kitab al arais wa atayib
al-nafais can be found in its original, but also in a German
translation.[5]

Islamic pharmacology with its chemical
content received a good deal of interest on the part of European
translators. A treatise by Al-Maridini of
Baghdadand
Cairowas
translated as De Medicinis universalibus et particularibus,
and that of Ibn al-Wafid of Spain was made
into the Medicamentis simplicibus'.[6]
Peter of Abano (1250-1316) translated and added a supplement to
the work of al-Maridini under the title De Veneris.

The medical aspects of Muslim chemistry
have recently attracted the interest of both Meyerhof[7]
and Levey.[8]
The main subjects of such Muslim pharmacy, according to Levey,are:

3) Synonymatic: treatises, in which are
found lists of simples usually in alphabetical order to help the
reader to identify the drug in other languages.

4) Tabular, synoptic texts, whereby long
texts are turned into tabular work for quick usage, and
abstracts made of some treatises for the same purpose.

5) Lists of materia medica which include
therapeutic considerations and opinions of various writers on
the subject, preparations of the drugs and descriptions..

6) Substitute drugs in case one drug for
whatever reason was not available, a substitute was provided.

7) Works on medical specialities
available either as separate treatises or as sections of large
encyclopaedias of medicine.[9]

Many aspects of Islamic chemistry have
been dealt with by Holmyard, Kraus, and above all Ruska. Much of
such material, however, is only available in German.[10]
Despite such focus, there is still no comprehensive work on
Islamic chemistry by any single author. Other than lack of
interest amongst today’s scholarship, in particular, practical
obstacles stand in the way of this task.Western scholars, as De Vaux
points out, are hampered
by the fact that many aspects of Islamic chemistry, notably
industrial technology, remain too technical for the Arabist to
comprehend.[11]
For the chemist, it will be Arabic (the language) that will be
hard to comprehend. Another problem is difficult access to
manuscripts; Sherwood Taylor points to
hundreds of Islamic works on chemistry, and only very few are
translated into a European tongue.[12]
The poor translation of manuscripts already
‘edited or translated’ also stands in the way. Apart from Jabir,
and al-Razi, the contribution of Muslim chemists has been
neglected. Apart from a few extracts on al-Majriti, little is
known of the Muslim-Spanish chemical tradition. Yet, as Holmyard
insists, the study of Muslim chemistry in
Spain
is highly crucial due to the fact that it was from that country
that Muslim chemistry passed to Europe.[13]